A loving PLACE TO CALL HOME

Meet Our Residents

Taz the Horse

I met Taz in 2015. Her owner had stopped paying her board and changed his phone number, essentially abandoning her at the barn. I was contacted because the barn owner could not afford to pay for her anymore and needed to either euthanize her or find her a new home. Obviously I didn’t euthanize her, and instead she’s been with me since October 2015. Taz is curious and kind. She loves scratches along her neck and chest and is the most expressive horse I’ve ever met! Her ears seem to be directly connected to her heart ... so she really wears her emotions on her sleeve. You always know what Taz is thinking!

Apple the Horse

This is Apple (previously known as Patty). We just got Apple in January 2022. Her owner was about 90 years old and broke her shoulder, so she couldn’t take care of her anymore. She had had Apple for about 12 years, but like many horse owners, she was planning on sending Apple to slaughter so she could make a quick $500 – luckily, a neighbour stepped in and contacted us about adopting her.

Apple was very frightened when she arrived and it was clear she was not handled much. They actually had to lasso her to get her on the trailer! She had also been alone for 12 years (this is a big no-no, seeing a horses are herd animals). We’re also pretty sure she’s blind in one eye (not uncommon in light coloured horses). She’s calmed down a lot since she arrived – she knows we all have carrots and apples in our pockets! – but we still need to work with her a little more because my goal is the have the equine ophthalmologist come out in the spring to properly assess her eyes!

Billy the Horse

Billy came to me in September of 2019. He was a work horse for the Mennonites for about 22 years and then when he wasn’t of any further use to them, they sold him to a kill buyer. Instead of selling Billy for slaughter, this kill buyer contacted a rescue to see if they wanted to buy Billy instead, and they did. It’s a really sad system because, of course you don’t want to financially support kill buyers... but you also want to rescue the animal, so it’s a rock and a hard place. I adopted Billy from the rescue, and he’s been with me ever since! Billy is a gentle but stubborn fellow – he’s slow moving if he doesn’t want to do something (like get dewormed or have eye meds put in his eye) so he just slowly lifts his head and walks away! No drama, cause he knows you can’t reach his head!

Edgar the Cat

I was working at a cat rescue during the summer when this little guy arrived along with his 4 other litter mates. They were found at a barn and this little one was in particular bad shape. He had the worst case of conjunctivitis that I had ever seen – so bad that I couldn’t actually see his eyeball at all due to all the swollen tissue. The rescue asked me to foster him as he needed eye meds every two hours. I named this fuzzball Edgar and he went everywhere with me for weeks. He spent most of his days at the vet clinic I work at - just exploring the medical storage area and napping on our receptionists lap. Slowly but surely his eye got better, and we all fell in love with him. So I guess it’s no surprise that Edgar is still with me today and an official member of The Kind Barn.

Silas and Sybil the Cats

I got Silas and Sybil as a bonded pair in July 2022. Silas is a young kitty with an autoimmune condition, so he was going to be hard to find a home for because he may require expensive medication and care as he gets older, so I offered to take him and the other kitty he had bonded with, Sybil. 

Now Sybil is a beauty cat, but she does not want to be touched ... like, at all. Over the past 9 months, she has slowly started coming around and letting me pet her (usually around feeding time) but most of the time Sybil likes to hang out independently on her Poang chair or the wooden ledge we built under a big window. Silas on the other hand is the most friendly and relaxed cat I have ever met. He seems to love all other cats and he just has so much love to give! He likes to cuddle with little Edgar and sit by his automatic feeder (haha). 

Chelsea the Cat

I got Chelsea in June 2021 after her owner passed away. She was about 17 years old and had lived her whole life in the same house with the same owner. I adopted both her and her brother Bandit (who unfortunately got sick in October and had to be put down).

Chelsea is a very particular cat. She only wants to be touch in certain places and absolutely hates being picked up. Everything is on Chelsea’s terms and that’s fine. I suspect this is partly because she has arthritis and is in pain so I’m working on creating a pain management plan for her ... but she makes things difficult because she is very, very picky with what she will eat! 

When I got Chelsea she also had severe dental disease. In September she had a huge dental and had all her teeth removed ... but she still eat like a champ! Chelsea is also in advanced kidney failure so she gets a few medications each day to keep her comfortable (the ones that I can sneak into her food. She spends her days on a heating pad on the couch and her night under my duvet snuggled into my armpit.

Thor the Cat

I just adopted Thor in Feb 2022. He’s definitely a feral kitty and is 100% afraid of humans. He was trapped in Quebec and brought to a local rescue where he was neutered and had one eye removed. He’s not doing great just yet, but recently he has started eating wet food mixed in with antibiotics and Prozac, so hopefully those medications will help in the short term – this is progress! Please cross your fingers for poor Thor.

IN MEMORIAM

The Barn’s Rainbow Bridge

Leo

This was Leo. He was the horse who started it all. I met Leo in 2014 when I was out doing a routine vaccine appointment at a barn. The owner mentioned that they had this really nice horse, but since he had a limp and couldn’t be ridden, they were sending him to auction. I hate auctions because this is where the kill buyers go to pick up cheap horses and then they sell them for slaughter. Since Leo had a limp and couldn’t be ridden, he was certainly in danger of being purchased by a kill buyer... so I bought him.

Leo was the most curious and playful horse I’ve met. He was always nibbling on my clothes and picking up brushes or anything else he could get his mouth on! He also loved having his front teeth rubbed my the palm of my hand - he was a real weirdo and I loved him for that. Unfortunately, on February 25th, 2022 he severely injured his back leg and was euthanized the following day. We’re all still in shock and trying to figure out how to move on without Leo as he really was the backbone of the herd and the rescue.

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The Kind Barn is a registered Canadian Non-Profit Organization.